Press Release

»A meadow, really green, with dense grass, no weeds, no flowers — a lush meadow. Not very big — 20 x 20 metres perhaps. And around it a wooden fence. The classic type, with vertical slats, pointed at the top — about 1.5 metres high. Horizontal slats hold it all together, with a post at each corner. On the other side of the fence is the same meadow, but not quite so perfect. There is the occasional tree, a path, big stones, houses in the distance and so on — the world, in fact.

And the meadow inside the fence is called art and everything outside the fence is the world.

And then the fence suddenly collapses. Suddenly, it’s not art anymore — or rather, art is everywhere. And you’re not a problem any more either …« — Hans-Peter Feldmann

Characterised by a distinct passion to collect material from various media — i.a. found paintings or numerous ephemera — the artistic practice of Hans-Peter Feldmann concentrates on assembling, cataloguing and rearranging elements of daily life. Feldmann does not “sacralise“ art; he reflects on everyday situations with subtle humour and thereby unexpectedly probes existing art historical postulations.

With regard to our exhibition: Representations of the body manifest a culturally and historically constructed image of the human being— they shed light on man’s multilayered relationship with nature, society, religion, morality and sexuality. The glorification of the female body in particular has taken countless forms throughout the history of humanity: Ancient Venus statuettes, Renaissance nudes and even contemporary pornography are illustrative connotations. The depiction of exposed bodies or body parts is a universally continuous theme within the field of fine art. This is also the case with Feldmann.

At our Fasanenplatz gallery, we are showing three new installations with nude life-size sex dolls staged into situations that are both innocent and familiar. While one doll is petting a small dog, the other is typing a text, and the third is leisurely lying on a Gründerzeit style sofa. They are all stark-naked and purposefully positioned on individual pedestals. Elevating the dolls removes them from the context of commonplace life and hinders their predetermined purpose.

Feldmann has periodically produced artworks that thematise the grace and sexual allure of women. Complementing the new installations, our Mommsenstrasse gallery presents a series of related works. They are dedicated to the topos of “femininity“ and span about four decades. The room resembles a "women's cabinet" with works of various media, once more highlighting Feldmann's creative urge to collect— objects and photographs, as well as collages and paintings are exhibited.